[Lowfer] BRO gone to Hell?

[Lyle Koehler]

For a change, I didn't come down to the shack during the night, but BRO and
LEK hadn't quite disappeared from the Grabulator screen at 1300Z.

Of the several versions of the DDS exciter I've built, they can be either
very touchy or very stable. One of Murray's suggestions, which may not have
found its way onto my web page (sorry about that), is to put a 0.01 uF
capacitor across the reset line (pin 1) of the AVR micro. If you don't
already have a bypass on that line, give it a try.

I haven't experienced any problems with the actual programming of the
Futurlec AT90S2313 development board, but it has some quirks of its own.
After programming, it is necessary to unplug the programming cable before
the chip starts to function. And when I plug in a homebrew daughterboard
(which connects an R-2R network to the I/O pins) to the expansion connector,
the programmer won't recognize the device. So it is necessary to do some
plugging and unplugging during the programming and checkout process. As with
other versions of the exciter, there seems to be an initialization period
before it settles down and starts sending the right message on the right
frequency. Yesterday I added a "fast forward" button that speeds up the dot
clock generator and gets through the process more quickly. That should also
provide a much faster way of verifying that the QRSS and Hell messages have
been programmed correctly. I will try to get these and other tidbits of
information added to my web article soon.

Lyle